Wrecker's Ball
by Vicious Pink
Summary: PSII - Down in the dumps, Kain picks up the pieces of his life as he heads to his new job at the Roron scrap facility.
1. Chapter 1

"Sue, come on! Please!"

Kain pleaded with his girlfriend, who was storming all over their apartment, gathering what she could find of her belongings and throwing them hastily into some bags on the living room sofa. She pushed her purple bangs out of her face and reached down to grab another pair of shoes by the front door. She turned around with them and walked right by Kain without looking at him. As she shoved the sneakers into one of the bags, Kain reached for her arm, gently holding her near the wrist. Sue stopped what she was doing and sighed heavily.

"I can't, Josh. I can't do this," she told him as she stared at her bags. "I knew this was a mistake. I just…" She looked up at him, her brow furrowed. "I was too impulsive. We should have waited longer before moving in together. I just wanted to be with you so badly!" A few tears fell down her cheeks. She lowered her head. "Part of me still does."

"Well, dammit, Sue. If ya wanna stay with me, then stay!" Kain begged Sue as she pulled away from him. She grabbed a bag and headed into the bathroom. Kain followed behind her; he listened to her sniffling while he wondered how all of this happened.

He had come home from his first day on the job at the Roron scrap and waste facility to find Sue inexplicably preparing to move out. Kain's whole life had been one constant storm of activity, of people coming and going, but this time it was different. He had been with Sue since they were 18 years old. Two years had gone by since then, and though they were young, it never struck Kain as _too_ young. Motavia was a world on the go, one that rushed everyone into adulthood for reasons Kain didn't understand.

"It's not working. Don't you get it? I mean, I know you've always been the optimist, but look at what's going on here. I can't find a job, you're working all the way in Roron, we hardly see each other, and we have no money!" Sue exclaimed, sweeping her arm across the bathroom counter and knocking her toiletries into the bag hooked under her other arm.

"Then we'll both move," Kain said as he tried to put his arms around her. She dodged his hold and snaked around him, going back into the living room. "Aw, come on! Jim done told me there's a Motavian village up the road a piece from Roron that-"

"Jim? Your boozer uncle who can't even walk straight, let alone run that junkyard? And I'm not living in some Motavian camp out in the wilderness! You've lost your mind!"

"Uncle Jim ain't… well, if that's the way ya feel 'bout my family then maybe this ain't gonna work after all!"

Sue turned around and looked Kain in the eyes. "Exactly, but the real reason it's not going to work is because we can't live in Paseo while you're making, what, twelve meseta an hour halfway across the globe? The teleport tolls alone are outrageous, plus, I'm going to lose my government allowance now that you have a job. No one is on our side anymore."

"Well, then, we'll move to-"

"Stop it, Joshua. Just stop." Sue picked up her bags and headed toward the door. "We're priced out of every city on Motavia. I have to go back to Lume. I have a cousin there…" Her voice broke off as she started crying. She suddenly dropped her bags and ran towards Kain, throwing her arms around him and kissing him full on the lips. As she pulled away she said, "I'm sorry. Let's not leave arguing. I love you, but we're not meant to be together."

Kain mumbled through a shaky voice, "that ain't true."

She put a finger to his lips. "Shh. Please, let me go." She ran her fingers gently across his face one last time before turning around. Kain couldn't move. Confused and hurt, he watched the one stable person in his life leave. She picked up her bags, opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

Kain's gaze didn't move from the door as it slid shut. He let a full minute go by before he snapped out of his stupor and darted out the door to catch up with Sue. She was already downstairs and outside, getting into one of the city's transports, headed for the nearest teleport station.

"Wait!" Kain shouted, but it was too late. The transport's doors closed, and he couldn't see Sue behind its tinted windows. "I ain't got nothin' left!"

He sat down hard on the ground and watched the transport disappear down the road. He put his head between his legs and ran his fingers through his lavender hair and tried not to cry. He reminded himself that before he met Sue he was a loner; he could be one again. The reminder gave him no peace. Sue brought meaning to his life, and now she was gone.

Perhaps he had been too optimistic about their relationship, just like Sue said. They had no plans, no real way of making money, and no idea how to get by when they first moved in together. Over the more than two years of their cohabitation, there had been too many days and nights of fighting over finances, unemployment and the future. Kain wasn't the kind of person who was ever good at making goals and even worse at achieving even the easiest of them. Kain knew deep down that it would take more than ideals to build a family with Sue, but they had both procrastinated for too long.

He pulled out a cigarette from the front pocket of his coveralls and let it dangle from his mouth as he lit it with a small amount of foi from the palm of his hand. A few long, satisfying drags later, a whistle patrol robot whizzed toward Kain and stopped about a foot away from him. Kain wondered how anyone could take these patrolling robots seriously. They looked like white waste bins on wheels. The robot issued an order to Kain in a loud monotone.

"CITY POLLUTION ORDINANCE 12B-A62 BANS SMOKING IN ALL PUBLIC SPACES. YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO EXTINGUISH OFFENDING PRODUCT BEFORE CITATION ISSUANCE."

Kain took another drag and blew the smoke right into the front of the whistle. It did nothing to the robot, but it made Kain feel better. The red sensor on the front of the whistle continued to blink as Kain continued to smoke, undaunted by the robot's orders.

"YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS TO-"

The squat robot suddenly short-circuited. Kain watched as the whistle's exterior began discharging sweeping currents. Smoke rose out of its top until finally the entire lid of the robot popped off and shot up a few stories into the air. The rest of its body convulsed and twitched until it had no energy left, falling onto its front on the ground. The lid bounced off the pavement several times before it lodged into a well-manicured bush by the apartment building's entrance.

Kain stood up and looked down at the fried, topless robot and smirked. He waited for the white glow of his right hand to dissipate before taking the cigarette out of his mouth and flicking it in the direction of the whistle.

"Oops," Kain said as he turned around to the building's entryway. As he palmed the security pad of the front door, he could hear the siren of a polezi enforcement robot-a much larger mechanism of humanoid appearance and responsible for more serious matters than whistles-grow nearer. Kain glanced behind him before entering the building and watched the polezi use its single giant optic to perform a laser scan of the incapacitated robot. The polezi demanded to a nonexistent crowd that they stand back at least five meters as it doused the whistle with a foamy substance.

It was a good thing for Kain that he was living in a world where laws were enforced by robots. It was easy to assume robots malfunctioned on their own, rather than being busted up "real good" by a simple country boy originally from the farming domes outside Kueri.

* * *

The next morning Kain found himself staring long and hard into his coffee mug. One more sip and he would be done with not only his drink, but also his apartment and Paseo. He took a moment to contemplate where he thought he would be going next in life while swishing around the last drop of coffee in his mug. For now, it seemed he would continue to work at his uncle's facility and camp out at night with the Motavians and the few Palmans brave enough to exist outside the protective walls of Palman cities. He swigged the last of his coffee and got up from the table, mug still in hand.

It was easy enough for him to pack; all the furniture had come with his rent-controlled apartment. He only had a duffel bag of belongings to take with him. The rest of his projects, all manner of mechanisms and their parts he planned on reconstructing and reselling for money, he left for the building's management to toss.

He stuffed the mug into the top of his bag and left for his new life as an assistant at his uncle's junkyard. Sue was right. He was an optimist, and he had a good feeling about Roron. After all, one man's trash was another's treasure, and Kain was swimming in it.


	2. Chapter 2

Sweltering was an apt description for Roron at 11:30AM. The sections of the waste facility that were indoors weren't any cooler than outside, and Kain's uncle had forgotten to turn on the exhaust fans earlier in the morning. Kain hadn't realized this until he escorted some Motavians to the fourth floor so they could rummage for vehicle parts. Even the Motavians groaned when the service elevator opened and the wave of heat and smell of hot garbage slapped them in their faces.

Kain stepped out of the elevator, fanning his hand in front of him and coughing over the muggy, putrid air he had inhaled. "What in blue blazes? Damn it all, Jim! I guess checkin' the fans is just one more thing I's gotta jot down on my ever-growin' list of things ya can't seem to do, huh?" he cursed a non-present Jim, who was probably at that moment passed out in the main office. Kain pulled open the circuit breaker along the wall and switched on all the fans. His next order of business was to open the ceiling vents, yet another responsibility of his uncle's that wasn't taken care of earlier.

No wonder the authorities was more than eager to let Kain become an assistant at Roron. Though most of the facility was automated or android-run, the one Palman left to oversee operations, Jim, had become a liability. Kain wondered how much longer it would be before Jim was forced to retire. In all honesty, Kain thought the structure should be under the Motavians' control, but the government barely recognized the natives, preferring not to add more bodies to its payroll. Furthermore, the Motavians were mostly distrustful—and with good reason in Jim's case—of Palmans.

After the fans were busy circulating and the vents were opened, Kain looked through the many bins, being naturally fascinated with machinery and electronics. The uppermost floor of Roron was loaded with mechanical goodies, too. It was where most of the sea vessels were scrapped after the ocean ban was implemented 50 years prior, ever since some vague _accidents_ occurred and the Mother Brain network deemed all waterway traffic unsafe for anything other than remote-controlled watercraft.

Kain dreamed of the opportunity to travel on the ocean. Who would stop him if he built his own boat, anyway? The police robots didn't faze him, and no one seemed to care that Motavians built and used jet scooters all the time to play in the ocean.

He hadn't gotten very far in his search for motor parts when one of the floor's smaller chutes came to a stop nearby. A very inebriated Jim could be heard noisily wheezing from inside. His slurry, gruff voice called to Kain as soon as the chute opened.

"How many times I gotta tell you, boy? You ain't allowed on the upper floors without a fraggin' gun!"

Kain turned around and saw his uncle looking at him through one of his half-closed, bloodshot eyes, his body swaying as he held a flask of who-knows-what in one hand. He put his other hand through his greasy, unkempt violet hair and tried walking toward Kain. Kain was amazed Jim even made it up the chute without getting lost. There was an intoxicated blush to his face, which was so puffy it looked like he was suffering an allergic reaction to something.

Jim wagged his flask at Kain. "Now go on and get yer ass down to the office and pick up one of them shazer lots!"

Kain flipped down his tinted safety glasses so that his uncle wouldn't see his look of disappointment. _Shazer lots?_ Jim must have meant a laser shotgun, a typical weapon—along with acid pistols—for working any job that was at least partly outside or otherwise exposed to the recent biomonster infestations. Roron certainly had biomonster problems, but Kain wasn't afraid of any creatures, mutant or not. He was a quick learner. Within only a couple of weeks of working at the facility, he mastered dodging the biohazards, including hanging around the native Motavians, who went largely ignored by the beasts. How his uncle had survived the infestations, Kain was unsure. Perhaps the monsters preferred their prey not marinated in hard liquor.

Kain tried picturing his uncle in some better year to make heeding his drunken authority easier to handle. Finally, he nodded at Jim. "Sure thing. I was just comin' up here a sec to keep an eye on these Mot-"

Jim stepped forward and nearly fell into a waste compactor. "Boy, I don't care which of yer beaked buddies ya done come to watch over! You ain't their keepers! I's gonna loose my license if one of them squeals to the police about you not havin' a gun, and those blue-feathered rats is just itchin' to get rid of me!"

Kain swiped the flask from Jim, who took a pathetic swing at his nephew. Kain sighed and pushed Jim toward the chute. "Go downstairs and sober up, old man. I'll fix you some lunch and get the damned gun while I'm down there. You's three sheets to the wind and it ain't even noon."

"You's got a sass mouth just like yer momma!" Jim spat on the floor next to Kain's feet and stumbled back into the chute.

Kain waited until Jim was out of sight before he angrily threw part of a motor he was holding against the wall, accidentally releasing some of his crippling gaj technique while hurling the motor scrap. Despite being made of titanium, it broke into many pieces. The sparks of gaj momentarily ran along the wall and caused the lights to flicker for a few seconds. Some of the Motavians looked up from what they were doing and glared at Kain.

Kain let out a nervous laugh in an attempt to downplay the seriousness of the incident. "Uh, sorry, folks. Ain't sure how that done happened, but it's all right now. Don't y'all worry." He backed away slowly to the chute, pushing his glasses on top of his head. He smiled at the Motavians, who were still eying him. He turned around and pressed the down button for the chute, exhaling deeply to regain his composure.

Any mention of his mother sent Kain into a fury, especially if the criticism was coming from his extended family, who loved rubbing it into his face how much of a burden and a troublemaker she had been. According to them, she never did anything right, not the least of which was having Kain while she was a teenager and never revealing who the father was.

Kain hated dwelling on the past. He might have grown up a black sheep of a black sheep, but he never let it get him down. In fact, he used it as motivation to remain fiercely independent and strive to make it on his own. It wasn't until he picked up a criminal record—rather accidentally—in Lume that it became harder for him to find a job, finally forcing him to rely on family again for gainful employment.

The chute came to a halt on the ground floor and Kain stepped out, taking the first left toward the main office. Jim was nowhere to be found. Inside the office, Kain walked around to the other side of Jim's desk and scanned the many security monitors. He saw Jim staggering slowly down a hallway to the bathroom. That would be an all-day event, so he unlocked the gun safe and equipped a laser shot. He remained in the office to keep an eye on all of the monitors. It wasn't but a few minutes later that an eclectic group of Palmans were standing outside Roron's main gates, ringing for admittance.

A couple of mazgamma security robots were already scanning the visitors' ID cards and performing a weapons check, but Kain decided to greet them at the gates as well, in order to prevent them from running into Jim first. He flipped his dark glasses down as he left he building. Algol was unforgiving at noon, and the inside of Roron was comparatively dark due to energy restrictions on lighting. A scrap facility wasn't high on the government's list of things to illuminate. Kain ordered the mazgammas to lower their laser fields and waved the group into the main yard.

He greeted the six guests with a polite nod and a grin. "Don't get many Palmans to come 'round here 'cause of them mutated critters, but I sees you's packin' some decent equipment. What can I do fer y'all this fine afternoon?"

The Paseo agent with dark blue hair turned to the taller man—probably a hunter—dressed in black and carrying the same type of shotgun Kain was carrying. The two looked baffled, and they mumbled back and forth to each other. Kain waited for them to finish, lighting up a special Motavian cigar designed to repel biomonsters. As the two strangers were conversing, one of the females, a comely, long-haired blonde in a guardian uniform, tried to push the taller man out of the way.

"Listen, Landale," she intervened, pointing at the agent. "You're not in charge here. I was ordered by HQ to escort you to Roron, so anything you have to say to him you say to me, too."

The hunter let out an exasperated sigh. "Not this again!"

"Guardian Zirski," the agent said to the woman, "I don't see why you should have to stay with our group now that you've brought us here. You've fulfilled your duties, so you're free to leave. I'm sure there are more important matters for you to attend to back at headquarters. We've done nothing but annoy you the entire trip down this peninsula."

"My job here isn't complete until I have ensured you've left this facility with only what the Commander has authorized for you to take. Besides..." she stopped short and gave the hunter a dirty look out of the corner of her eye.

"Don't you _dare_ give me that look, Guardian," the hunter said. "If I was anything less than honest you'd know about it already. Until that time, I sure as hell don't need you babysitting me. Why don't you run along now, like a good government lackey, and-"

"You know," interrupted the thin, purple-haired man in a mousy tenor, "I'm not sure we're getting anywhere with all of this squabbling, so maybe we should stop talking unless it's specifically about a sea vessel."

The petite redhead standing next to him nodded her head in agreement. "That sounds reasonable, right?" she said as she cast her expression toward the guardian.

Kain removed the cigar from his mouth and flicked some ashes to the ground. "That's what y'all's here for? Some kinda ship? You ain't gonna find a whole one, that I know. You's about 50 years too late fer that."

The group glanced at each other. Kain waited a few seconds, then decided to advance the conversation on his own.

"Look, them Motavians come here all the time to pick up parts fer their jet scooters and such. Just tell me whatcha need and I can help ya find it."

The agent put a hand on his hip and scratched the top of his head with the other. He looked tired. Finally, he stepped toward Kain.

"Thanks. My apologies for not introducing myself. I'm Agent Rolf Landale, and everyone except the guardian is with me. We're here because..." He rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Because... well... Oh, please tell me I don't have to explain the real reason why we're here. That would make my day about a thousand times easier."

Kain grinned at the agent and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't give a rat's behind why y'all need a boat. Now, standin' 'round and yammerin' about it ain't gonna get you the parts you's looking fer any faster, so I thinks we should mosey on in and I'll take y'all to the mother lode of half-century-old scrap. It's mighty fine pickins!"

Kain nodded his head for the group to follow him inside the building. He put the cigar back in his mouth and leaned his shotgun casually against his right shoulder.

"Wait!" he heard Rolf shout from behind him. Kain turned around and shoved his glasses to the top of his head. He gave Rolf his full attention; Rolf was looking around frantically. "Where's Nei?" he asked, distressed.

Kain looked at the other group members as Rolf started darting from one scrap pile to another, searching for someone or something, this "Nei," Kain assumed.

"Who or what is Nei?" Kain asked the hunter. Before he could answer, the guardian spoke, annoyed as ever, her arms crossed in front of her.

"She's this liability the agent insists on taking with him everywhere." She rolled her eyes. The hunter let out an angry snort at the guardian and turned to Kain.

"The serious answer is she's another member of our group and she appears to be missing. She's clad in purple and has long ears," the hunter replied. He, too, searched the front yard. The others also joined in the hunt.

"Long ears? Uh, okay," said Kain. No one bothered to elaborate, so he took what little information he had and began checking the many heaps of junk. Surely it wouldn't be that hard to find a woman with-

"Hey, you!" a voice exclaimed and a body jumped out at Kain from around one of the piles, shoving an old, shiny jewelry box in his face. "Look what I found!"

Kain let out a startled yelp—losing his cigar in the process—and nearly dropped his gun. He slammed his back against the side of the building as his intruder awkwardly held the box closer to him the more he tried squirming around it. Once he regained his composure, he pushed the box away and got a good look at the person. The long ears were immediately apparent, but that wasn't the only striking feature. He gazed at this woman who was both stunning, with her long purple hair and ruby eyes, and mesmerizing, with feline features and a sprightly innocence to her moves and expressions. She seemed ignorant of personal space, just as ignorant as her surprise greeting, but Kain couldn't take his eyes off her as she smiled at him like he was King of Algol.

"Is this yours?" she asked, her eyes widening. "Is _all _of this yours? You must have so much fun here! May I have this, sir?" She stroked the jewelry box.

Kain laughed. "Be my guest, sweetheart. That thing could use a better home than what it done got in this here dump, anyway."

He didn't know it was possible for her to get more excited, but she squealed with delight and thanked him as she wrapped her arms around him, giving him his first hug in months.

He gently removed the girl from her grasp. "Whoa, there. You must be Nei?"

She nodded. "Did Rolf tell you we're going out on the ocean? Isn't that exciting?" Before he could reply, Nei took him by the hand and led him back to the main entrance. "Come on, silly! You have to meet everyone else!"

"I already..." Kain started, but as he looked at how excited Nei was, he decided he couldn't refuse to play along with her. "Sure thing, doll. Lead the way." Kain followed as Nei dragged him along in hand. He watched her soft, violet locks flowing in the breeze and had a brief memory of happier times with Sue. Another flash of Nei's smile, and Kain forgot he was in a junkyard at high noon, with Algol mercilessly beating down on him and a drunk uncle for a boss, who treated him like another piece of scrap. It was going to be a fine day after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Algol was nearly touching the horizon, but Kain was still on the job, watching over Agent Rolf Landale and his team on the upper floor of Roron. The group had done their best to scrape together what was needed to reconstruct a sea vessel, as odd and futile a request as it seemed to Kain. He didn't have the heart to tell his guests that the natives spent weeks, even months, day in and day out, to complete just one vehicle from scap.

An hour ago, Kain's uncle Jim went home, leaving the junkyard under Kain's control. Kain felt relieved he had at least had a chance to get the dense air circulating in the building before Rolf and the others had arrived. The group was no doubt used to Motavia's summer weather, but they appeared to be struggling with the humid stench of Roron. They had slowed significantly since they first arrived, and even the robust hunter, Rudo, had to take a break on a lower level after complaining of lightheadedness. The doctor followed after him, like a good doctor would.

The guardian, Anna, continued to shadow the group, but eventually she pitched in with the effort. She was sitting on the ground, her thick, long hair pulled up in a messy bun on top of her head. She marked parts as Rolf and Nei brought them to her, and she compared them to images in an old manual Rolf had obtained to help him build his ship.

Rolf was hip-deep in a bin, cursing the day's shortness. He was covered in grime. Kain admired anyone who didn't mind getting a little dirty to get a job done. Whatever his group was trying to accomplish, it must have been important, especially to Rolf. He let out a cry of happiness as he wrestled a propeller out of the mountain of junk. Kain looked at it and shook his head.

"No, no. That there's a propeller for a much larger boat. And it's missin' a blade," Kain said.

Rolf sighed, tossing the piece back into the scrap heap. "This is ridiculous! We've been hunting for ship remnants for half a day, and we don't even have half of what we need!"

"Why is it ridiculous?" asked Anna, who compared a circuit board she found to a detailed picture of the same part in the manual. "50 years is a long time, plenty of time for Motavians to pick through the best scraps, anyway."

"And them Motavians is crafty buggers," added Kain.

Anna glared at Kain. "Don't call them 'buggers.' You don't know what they've been put through by our people."

"Hey, I live with them! I didn't mean nothin'… oh, forget it." Kain had little patience for debates, especially political ones.

He had, however, showed an abundance of patience for Rolf's group, due in part to Nei. Every time he looked at her he thought of Sue, and it was as shameful as it was fulfilling. Over the last few hours he had played out in his head asking Nei to come back for a visit sometime. Or many times. As many times as she wanted, which he hoped was often, if the pile of treasures she'd collected was any indication she liked where Kain worked.

He smiled when Nei brought him another piece, this time an actual ship part. She showed it to Kain.

"You said you found most of the motor, but it was missing this band thingy."

"Ya hear that, Rolf? Little Miss Mechanic here found yer belt!" Kain said, who took the fan belt and twirled it around his wrist a few times before he slung it into the group's wagon filled with parts.

Rolf looked up from the bin he was rummaging through and wiped his brow. "Oh, praise the light! You can cross that off the list, Ms. Zirski."

Anna took a pen to the manual and lined through a page. She smiled at Rolf. "You know you can call me Anna."

Rolf seemed to ignore her, which amused Kain. He chuckled. Ever since Rolf threatened to report Anna to her superiors for harassing his team, Anna had changed her tune, at least around Rolf. He had perfectly repeated several sections of code to Anna while lecturing her. She countered with other laws, but Rolf knew an amendment or exclusion for each of Anna's points. By the time Rolf had won the argument, Kain thought he had heard the entire Palman legal code.

Nei tugged at Kain's arm. "What can I look for now?"

Suddenly, the facility's lights grew a touch dimmer.

"Damn," Kain muttered. Everyone turned their attention to the lights or to Kain.

"Well, this is no good!" said Hugh as he emerged from an adjoining room where he had been sorting out wires and cables. He held up one of the wires. "Look at the knots in this thing! I need more light. And where is Rudo? He was supposed to help carry out the hull pieces; I can't do it by myself!"

"Dr. Sage is tendin' to him in the office, I think," said Kain.

Hugh looked confused. "He's injured?"

Rolf sighed. "No, sick. I told him not to eat that cake!"

Anna snickered, but quickly stopped once Rolf shot her a mean glance. Kain looked on and cleared his throat.

"I hate to interrupt," said Kain, "but the lights are gonna shut off in a half hour. Them gettin' darker was our warnin'."

The group collectively groaned.

"Well, that ain't no way to be. This place ain't goin' nowhere. Y'all can come back in the mornin'."

More groans.

"Sheesh, what kinda outfit is yer commander operatin'? Glad I never joined up."

Rolf stood up and brushed off his uniform. He picked up the last piece of scrap he found and added it to the cart full of parts. He shrugged at Kain. "It's complicated."

Kain snorted. "I figured that out about six hours ago. Look, I'm real sorry, folks. Can I at least get y'all a telepipe? Ya don't want to walk back to Zema after dark, trust me."

Rolf grimaced. "I don't know if we can do that while Rudo's sick."

"Y'all are welcome to stay with me, then," said Kain. He glanced at Nei and felt his face get hot. "Uh, I mean, it's really just a tent in the Motavian village next door, but them biomonsters stay away, at least."

"A chance to study the natives? I'm in!" said Hugh.

Anna put her hands on her hips. "Their village isn't a zoo, Dr. Thompson!"

Just then a chute opened. "And now we have a good reason not to get on the villagers' bad sides," said Rudo, stepping forward. Amy was close behind him.

Rolf greeted with a nod. "Rudo. You're upright. And keeping the contents of your stomach to yourself, I assume? Good."

"Nothing a little monomate and some soda water couldn't handle," said Amy. Kain was shocked to learn that Jim even kept water in his office.

Rudo shook his head. "Just call it 'taking one for the team,' because mixing with the Motavians, even if it cost me my last meal, got us a jet scooter." He held up and jingled a set of keys.

Rolf rushed to Rudo's side. "A jet scooter! How did you… no, don't tell me. It's a vessel? Is it actually seaworthy? Have you seen it? Where is it?"

Rudo clapped Rolf on the back. "I think all of those questions can be answered by heading out and going down to the water's edge, don't you?"

Rolf nodded then turned to Kain. "What about you, Josh? You said you were an engineer before you were hired here. Do you mind checking this jet scooter for us? I'll make sure the commander reimburses you."

The lights darkened another notch. Kain glanced at one of the lamps and cracked a smile. "Well, the last time someone asked fer my mechanical expertise, I…" His gaze wandered to Nei, and he choked on the rest of his sentence. "Er, ah, sure. Hell, I gotta close up shop here and head home anyway, so why not?"

"Excellent!" said Rolf. "We'll be out front once you're done. Nei, Hugh and Rudo will meet me by the cargo lift so we can take what we found down to the main floor. We may need to do this the hard way still. Amy, help Mr. Kain with whatever he needs. Ms. Zirski, go home."

Anna immediately protested. "Rolf!"

Rolf walked right by Anna and divvied parts to his team members.

Anna continued. "Agent Landale! I cannot allow you to take these civilians on an illegal watercraft! If the commander-" Rolf walked past her in the other direction, toward the cargo lift. Anna waved the group's manual in the air and followed closely behind Rolf. "This is the only vessel you are authorized-"

The manual burst into flames. Anna dropped the book to the ground and stomped out the fire.

Kain pulled up next to Anna, taking a drag from a newly lit cigarette. He looked at her, raised an eyebrow and picked up the burned manual carefully with a hand that was curiously smoking like a hot coal. He shook the guide; several pages fell out.

"Gotta be real careful indoors here. Things just go _boom_ when ya least expect it," he said, whacking the singed book against a pant leg before handing it to Anna. "Must be the air."

She snatched the book and shoved it into her bag. She narrowed her gaze at Kain. "Or the employees."

Kain stepped aside and gestured for Anna to take the chute. "After you, darlin'."

Anna sighed and walked toward the lift. "I can show myself out; no need for an escort." She stopped and glared at Kain, pausing at his hands and looking at them suspiciously. "In fact, I'd prefer you not follow me at all." She left quickly.

"Ooh, did you feel a shiver in here, or was it just me?" asked Amy.

"Well, maybe it'll help her chill out fer a while." Kain took another drag of his cigarette before bringing his shotgun to the ready. He waved for Amy to follow him down a corridor. "I gotta do a final sweep of the building. Ya ready, Doc?"

"More biomonsters? Oh, joy," Amy said, retrieving her pistol from its holster.

"I guess this is just a day's work fer ya? Gotta admit, sounds fascinatin', whatever it is."

Amy checked the charge on her gun. "It's been… let's just say, 'an adventure.'"

Kain smirked. He liked adventures.

* * *

_A/N: An update after three years isn't so bad, is it? Okay, it is. Anyway, this story isn't over yet, but never fear! I'm working on the last chapter already. It will _not_ take another three years to complete._


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